Eagles barely hanging on

way too many flaws to contend

Eagles are deserving of their 5-8 record

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — — Don't be fooled, Eagles fans. This is still a bad football team, one not capable of making it to the playoffs even if it gets all the mathematical help it needs from the Cowboys, Giants, Falcons, Bears or anyone else still in contention in the NFC.

No way did it show enough against the 4-8 (now 4-9) Miami Dolphins on Sunday to indicate it will be able to make a late-season run while the rest of the NFC or at least the NFC East collapses.

Sunday's 26-10 Eagles win was 60 minutes of the most dreadful football you will ever see at this level and almost physically painful to watch.

What sticks out most is that a game in which the opponents combined to run the ball 58 times out of 117 total plays from scrimmage could take more than three-and-a-half hours to complete. And it seemed like more. Much more.

Fact is, both of these teams were awful, the Eagles just a little less so. Both teams were poorly coached, the Eagles just a little less so. Both teams were terribly inconsistent with execution, the Eagles just a little less so.

Bill Parcells, who ironically assembled this Dolphins squad before bolting so quickly that few could remember (and therefore forget to hold him accountable), had a favorite saying: "You are what your record says you are."

He was right. The Eagles still are only 5-8 after winning a game in which they begged at times to be beaten. So bad were the Dolphins, in fact, that coach Tony Sparano was fired on Monday, despite having pulled the team together to win four of its previous five following an 0-7 start.

Eagles coach Andy Reid, on the job since 1999, knew it, too, which is why he wisely elected to opt out of the postgame trap set for him.

The coach was asked if his team finally played up to the potential he and so many others thought it would have from the start of the season.

Reid smiled.

"I'm just proud of the guys and how they played today," he said. "We're a work in progress. So that's what we're doing. We're getting better, so that's what we're doing and that's what we're trying to do as coaches and players every week. I just appreciate the effort and attitude these guys have had."

In other words, no, the Eagles have not come close to being the team he envisioned.

How could they, after so many earlier misjudgments and miscalculations set the stage for this spectacular failure?

Pro Bowl cornerbacks Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie haven't worked out for a variety of reasons, some beyond their control.

Pro Bowl quarterback Michael Vick has tossed as many interceptions as touchdown passes, has missed three games completely and has been unable to finish two others due to three separate injuries. The spectacular things he often does to turn broken plays into big gains no longer trump his errors in judgment and his poor durability.

Pro Bowl wide receiver/punt returner DeSean Jackson now only has his mind on his money and his money on his mind, which has turned him into ... Todd Pinkston. Their other Pro Bowl receiver, Steve Smith, caught 11 passes in 13 games before the plug was mercifully pulled on his season and he was placed on the injured reserve list on Monday.

The defense still has major tackling and coverage issues and has been ridiculously inconsistent under first-year coordinator Juan Castillo, whose 16 previous seasons in the NFL were all spent on offense.

Only with the benefit of a bye week have the Eagles been able to put two non-disastrous defensive performances together in a row — and they have yet to win two in a row without more time than their opponents to prepare.

If not for the tweaks brilliant new offensive line coach Howard Mudd has made since being talked out of retirement in the offseason, Reid would be in front of Sparano in the unemployment line, Vick would almost certainly be out for the season by now and LeSean McCoy would be something less than an ascending superstar.

Against the Dolphins, Vick had passes batted down all over the place, another pass that was intercepted as the result of a foolish throw, and a 69.9 passer rating. The Eagles turned the ball over on a foolish special-teams play as well.

By the end, they had gained just 239 yards on 66 plays and were completely stifled on the ground.

Only a superior defensive performance against a team down to its third quarterback and a backup left tackle (Nate Garner) thrown into the fire when Jake Long was lost early in the game saved them.

But there is absolutely no reason to believe the Eagles can sustain that level of play against a desperate, bona fide AFC contender such as the New York Jets, who visit the Linc on Sunday, or do it for three weeks in a row.

So the bandwagon can pass without stopping here, pass as fast as it can, right into 2012. Only then will the Eagles be able to completely correct all of this year's malfunctions.